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Re: 12/23/2005 Game Thread 24: Pacers vs Cavaliers

Re: 12/23/2005 Game Thread 24: Pacers vs Cavaliers

Most players have bad games and some have a few in a row but the difference with Jackson is he will have a bad game and make wrong decisions at decisive moments of games. He knew he wasnt shooting well so dont jack up a tough 3. Then he gets himself suspended for our next game which is against the 2nd best team from west. Thats why everyone gets mad at Jax.

Re: 12/23/2005 Game Thread 24: Pacers vs Cavaliers

*******. I cannot believe the abuse Jack gets in this forum, its ridiculous. He has a superb game, against the clippers, scors 24 points and has 8 rebounds on excellent shooting, the forum is silent, very few people praise him. Then, he has a bad outing (and he wasn't the only one) and everyone is saying we need to trade him. Drives me nuts.

Personally, I would like for Jack to step it up 2 games in a row. We need him hitting shots or at least free throws. The stupidity at the end is what is the worst though. Now he probably won't be available for the Dallas game at least. so not only does he contribute to this loss along with just about everyone else besides J.O., but he puts us in a hole against at least Dallas on one of the hardest back to backs of the season. At least Artest gave more every game for his stupidity.

Re: 12/23/2005 Game Thread 24: Pacers vs Cavaliers

Most players have bad games and some have a few in a row but the difference with Jackson is he will have a bad game and make wrong decisions at decisive moments of games. He knew he wasnt shooting well so dont jack up a tough 3. Then he gets himself suspended for our next game which is against the 2nd best team from west. Thats why everyone gets mad at Jax.

Re: 12/23/2005 Game Thread 24: Pacers vs Cavaliers

I am a Carlisle fan and I think his lineups **** this year.

Why the small ball against a 7'3" center? WTF was Cro guarding Z for?...or even Foster. That should NEVER happen. I understand the idea that going small will get Z in foul trouble, but I do NOT think that is the best plan to beat the Cavs. We should have Pollard in their to bang with Z and Jermaine and Granger in their to defend the interior. Jermaine and Granger can play help defense and block anything coming near the rim...without having to guard Z. We would have NEVER got in that hole with that plan.

GAME RECAP

CLEVELAND (AP) -- LeBron James scored a season-low 14 points, but added nine assists and eight rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers won their fifth straight, holding off the Indiana Pacers 94-89 on Friday night.

Drew Gooden added a season-high 21 points and 12 rebounds on a tender ankle and Larry Hughes had 18 points for the Cavs, who blew a 15-point lead in the fourth but made all the big plays down the stretch.

After the Pacers clawed back from a 22-point deficit to tie it at 86, James drove for a layup with 56 seconds left and was fouled by Jermaine O'Neal. He missed the free throw, but Cavs guard Eric Snow leaned in and drew an offensive foul on Jamaal Tinsley as the Pacers guard pushed the ball up the floor.

Hughes then dropped a short jumper to make it 90-86, and after Stephen Jackson missed a 3-pointer for Indiana, the Cavaliers made four free throws, including a technical when Jackson was ejected with 10.8 seconds left to ice it.

O'Neal scored a season-high 34 points with 11 rebounds and five blocks. Fred Jones had 15 points for the Pacers, who were just 4-of-19 on 3-pointers.

Indiana fell to 3-2 since forward Ron Artest said he wanted to be traded.

Donyell Marshall added 17 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas 15 for Cleveland, which improved to 11-3 at home, and at 16-9, have the Eastern Conference's second-best record.

Trailing 76-61 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Pacers chipped away by forcing the ball down low. After Ilgauskas picked up his fifth personal and had to sit with 5:41 left, the Pacers scored seven straight points, pulling within 84-82 on Tinsley's 3-pointer with 2:58 remaining.

Ilgauskas returned and missed his first shot, and O'Neal's 14-foot jumper tied it 84-all with 2:16 to go.

James came in averaging nearly 36 points in 10 December games, but he didn't reach double digits until he made a steal and a reverse breakaway dunk to put the Cavaliers ahead 79-68 in the fourth.

For a change, James didn't have to carry the scoring load and didn't force many shots. The Cavaliers improved to 15-3 when James, whose previous season low was 16, tries under 25 shots.

With Artest elsewhere, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle assigned Jackson to James. It was a mismatch early on as James got his teammates involved by either blowing past Jackson or setting up the Cavaliers with crisp passes.

The Cavs were already ahead by 10 when James scored his first points, driving the lane for a thunderous dunk that Marshall followed with a 3-pointer to give Cleveland a 15-point lead.

James sat for a more than five minutes in the second quarter, but the Cavs extended their lead to 19 while their star rested. When he came back, James fed Marshall for the Cavs fourth 3-pointer of the period to make it 51-29.

However, the Pacers closed the half with an 11-1 spurt to get within 52-40 at the break.

Notes

Ilgauskas, shooting .886 (109-of-123) from the free throw line, is on pace to have the highest free-throw percentage for a player 7-feet or taller. Joe Kleine made .882 percent of his free throws in 1988-89. ... With three games in four nights, James has some last-minute Christmas shopping to do on Saturday. "I'm nowhere near done," he said, "been playing too much." ... Jones, who has made two or more 3-pointers in 18 of 25 games, leads the league with 4.4 3-pointers made per 48 minutes. ... Tinsley didn't practice Thursday and was questionable until game time after suffering whiplash when he collided with Clippers center Chris Kaman on Wednesday.